Is MS Dhoni greatest all-time captain of India?
MS Dhoni
With T20 World Cup 2007, 50 overs World Cup 2011, ICC Champions Trophy 2012 and No.1 team ranking in Test matches in his kitty, it’s not surprising that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is called the best Indian captain ever.
He has led India to victories in all the major ICC trophies, has the the most number of Test wins for any Indian captain and many other records under his belt. Not even his biggest critic can deny that he has indeed been a successful captain and probably the best wicket-keeper batsman that India has produced. But is he really the best captain that the nation has produced?
While Test matches outside the subcontinent brings out the darker side of captain cool. A difference of more than 50% between the abroad and home Test win %, losses in 9 of the last 10 Test matches played outside the subcontinent are just few of the stats that do rounds whenever the topic of his captaincy comes up.
To his defence, every team seems to be a bad traveller these days (just look at how the English team lost 5-0 in the Ashes down under). But in order to answer the question of him being the best ever Indian captain we have to look beyond these numbers.
For starters, take a look at the core of the 2011 World Cup winning squad and you have the likes of Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Zaheer, Gambhir, Harbhajan. Now rewind your memory few years back to when a certain Saurav Chandidas Ganguly was the Indian captain and you would find that baring Tendulkar (who is in a different league altogether) these are the very players who had been brought in and nourished by the then Indian captain Ganguly. The Sehwags and Harbhajans of the world did not have a fairy tale start to their career and it was Ganguly who had backed these boys during their tough days.
They have on record gone on to acknowledge captain Ganguly’s role in their success. Ganguly’s assurance to Sehwag of his place in the squad even if he fails as a Test opener is now a famous folklore. So essentially, the 2011 World Cup team was not Dhoni’s team in my opinion. At best, I would say that Dhoni was the rightful heir to a rich team which Ganguly had nourished. He was reaping the benefits of the seeds that Ganguly had sown.
Similarly Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman and Sehwag had a big role to play in India reaching the number one test ranking. We saw what happened in Australia ad England in 2011 when these greats failed and the responsibility was on the so-called Dhoni’s young guns.
Now compare this with what Ganguly had inherited from his successors – menace of match fixing which took away few big names at that time in Indian cricket and the result was a completely unsettled squad. It was a time when none other than India’s cricketing God had stepped down as captain and even the most ardent supporter of Indian cricket was beginning to doubt the integrity of its cricketers.
He started building his team from scratch, took few chances, backed few players and as they say “Fortune favours the brave”. In fact it was during the time of Ganguly that we first started hearing the term “TEAM INDIA”. Until then it was always addressed as the Indian team. It may seem to be a small thing, but in some sense it showed the unity within the team and gave the team an unique identity.
To me, Dhoni’s achievement as captain draws parallel with the former Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Ponting, also like Dhoni, had the luxury of inheriting a strong team from Steve Waugh. So, while Ponting may still have the world record of most Test victories as captain and two World Cup wins, but when we talk of great Australian captains, his name comes only after Steve Waugh.
It is like the story of an ancient kingdom, where the prince inherits everything from the king. But a time comes when the prince has to build his own army. And, I think that time has now come for Dhoni. Only time will tell whether the prince surpasses the king in greatness. As an Indian cricket supporter I wish that he does, but until then Ganguly would be the king and Dhoni the prince.